TV Licensing - where do I stand?
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Hunam85 wrote:
See, what i was told is that unless you proffsionally have your tv disabled from ever being able to watch TV then you got to have one.

But that's stupid, becuase one day you might decide to get a license and retune your telly, which would be pretty difficult if it were borked permanently. The TVL people like people to think all this stuff about needing a license even if you don't watch telly, but it's just lies and propaganda.

Grunk wrote:
they can't come and search your premesis without a search warrant. so if they come round refuse them entry.

don't pay, the BBC are fuckers.

+1

They have no legal authority to enter your room so just tell them to come back with a warrant. Maybe you could also mention to them why Catherine Tate deserves her own show let alone to be paid by the BBC?

/Goes back to listening to commercial radio/

You don't need a TV license to listen to BBC's radio stations.

I know I just down right don't like the BBC and their over paid DJ's.

The fact we are debating a tax on watching TV in 2006 is just embarrassing.

The law is on your side, despite what the BBC say. So long as your TV isn't able to get any BBC channels, by law they cannot force you to get a TV licence. if they decide to take it further, it's up to them to prove that your TV does get BBC channels, not the other way around. So just tell them to fuck off, they can't do anything other than make piss-poor TV.

Just cancel it like we did, we didn't even give a reason and despite the threat letters, we've never had any problems. They tried to come over, we said they are not welcome - that was that.

heh, used to love it when the rumours on campus started that TV Licensing were on the war path. Everyone would dash back to their rooms, de-tune the TV and hide it in a cupboard. Well, for the 1st term anyway.....we gave up after that

They don't have any quipment that can detect wether you're watching the TV with or without a license.

When a license officer comes to your property to inspect your premises, they only have the authority to check ur living room and any other room downstairs. THEY DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO CHECK UPSTAIRS.

How i know this..? My sister used to work for the company responsible for collecting the TV license money and she filled me in about all of it.

And!!! My sister lives in her own property. Her TV is upstairs.... always has been (it's not like she carries it upstairs everytime they come around).

A License offficer once came around. They didn't even ask to go upstairs. the bloke saw that there was nothin downstairs and jus said he would write it up that she doesn't have a TV and we haven't had anyone or any letters come since....... for like two years now.

Pirotic wrote:
The law is on your side, despite what the BBC say. So long as your TV isn't able to get any BBC channels, by law they cannot force you to get a TV licence. if they decide to take it further, it's up to them to prove that your TV does get BBC channels, not the other way around. So just tell them to fuck off, they can't do anything other than make piss-poor TV.

pacrifice wrote:
They don't have any quipment that can detect wether you're watching the TV with or without a license.

When a license officer comes to your property to inspect your premises, they only have the authority to check ur living room and any other room downstairs. THEY DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO CHECK UPSTAIRS.

How i know this..? My sister used to work for the company responsible for collecting the TV license money and she filled me in about all of it.

And!!! My sister lives in her own property. Her TV is upstairs.... always has been (it's not like she carries it upstairs everytime they come around).

A License offficer once came around. They didn't even ask to go upstairs. the bloke saw that there was nothin downstairs and jus said he would write it up that she doesn't have a TV and we haven't had anyone or any letters come since....... for like two years now.

sorry for the long post.

hope it helps.

my sister FTW

dear god, one step forware two steps back. One more time. TV licensing officials have *no* authority to enter your HOME at all, without a warrant from the courts!

Boring story time:
Back in uni we had a communal TV we used once or twice but didn't bother with a licence since it seemed like a bit much considering how much we used it (iPlayer was only just coming in at the time and we didn't listen to the radio).

One of their guys came around and a flatmate explained that we had used it once or twice but that was it. The guy said something along the lines of "Ok well I appreciate you've been honest, if you get a short license then we'll let you off". So we thought "ok seems fair" but ended up buying a 12 month one anyway for whatever reason. They then hounded us for about six months threatening fines, we explained what happened but they didn't seem to care and eventually took us to court where it was immediately chucked out.

My problem is with the utter garbage they spend most of it on. The shite shows and TV hosts with outrageous wages. Characterless morons who should be grateful if they got seven quid an hour for the mutual ego masterbating they do in front of the legions of lemmings.

All dealers should be giving up details to the licencing folks so they can send out a letter, then the buyer can either buy a licence or tell them they don't need one. (then you might get a visit, or they might just leave you alone for a couple of years.)

Last i heard, now there's iplayer with live broadcasting, anything with an internet connection is covered under the license fee these days. They can also do spot checks as well, so you might get some door knocking every few months.

Pretty neutral in the whole tv license debate really, as I can see the point from both sides of the divide.

I think the TV Licensing people would explode if they got sent the address of everyone every time they bought something that could go on the internet these days.

Last I heard, the rules have changed in that with TV equipment, simply having something that can receive, decode and display TV commits you to paying for a license, but with the iPlayer the onus is on to you not to use it to watch live TV if you've not paid for a license. But I don't recall where I heard that, and in all likelihood it was probably someone on here last time this topic came up.